in this story - we all belong
our stories
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR BACKGROUND
HOW WE BEGAN &
WHERE WE'RE GOING
The seeds for the Connect St. Helens movement were first planted in 2019 after the community suffered a number of student suicides, parent suicides and other tragedies during the 2017/2018 school year. It felt like every month, just as the community was beginning to heal, something else would happen.
A conversation between St. Helens School District Superintendent Scot Stockwell and a pastor in Battleground, Washington spurred interest in bringing a form of a successfully running, coalition movement in their community, Connect BG, to St. Helens – but in a way that adapted to the specific needs of the citizens of St. Helens.
The CDC suggests the cure for suicide and the things that ail us as a community, such as addiction and high rates of depression, is belonging. If we align with the fields of psychology and sociology we find a long-ignored but proven and deeply recognizable paradigm – humans need each other.
photo credit to heidi timmons photography
photo credit to heidi timmons photography
how connectsh came to be
continuing on...
So, Connect SH formed as an effort to combat suicide, but one with a deeper, grass-roots focus which invites everyone to the table – a really big table. Connect SH would be built upon a coalition of relationally connected community members (that’s us, you and me and we) who promote the experience of belonging to increase mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health.
We believe through building relationally connected communities and rescuing individuals from isolation, at all phases of life but especially during childhood where relational attachment is formed, the results across our community will be less mental, emotional, and behavioral illness. Long term, it will result in fewer suicides.
Throughout 2019, Stockwell and Connect BG founder Curtis Miller began planting the idea of Connect SH amongst the St. Helens Community. A retreat brought together trainers to “train the trainer” so they could implement “planting the flower.” They began the process of identifying and highlighting strengths within the community.
By the end of 2019, the Connect SH core team was identified, composed of Stockwell, Miller, Kellie Smith, a business owner and school board member, artist Joan Youngberg, Sherrie Ford, Executive Director of Columbia Health Services, and writer Julie Thompson.
The Connect SH core team first assembled in January 2020 with a specific mission. They knew they had to learn from the program’s first implementation in Battleground, Washington, and find the best way to adapt it to the community of St. Helens. That meant they had to practice the values of Connect SH amongst themselves … they had to connect.
finally...
They met weekly to engage and establish the storytelling process, combing through the subject matter of their lives and identifying the topics over which they found connection. They established a board and a nonprofit status and began working on an application that could track the community progress made with Connect SH so it can be quantified and replicated elsewhere. The Core Team likes to picture the app as a virtual metaphor for a map of St. Helens in which, as Connect SH grows, every light in every house turns on.
And then Covid-19 happened.
New questions arose. How does a community connect with each other in consistent ways when they have to remain six feet apart? They went back to the drawing board. Planned monthly breakfast gatherings went to zoom meetings, as did their own weekly connection meetings. The conversation rarely ended, continuing on in a group text each day as they worked from their various socially-distanced silos to bring the Connect SH mission to life.
1. IDENTITY
How does this character fit into their community? Describe the innate characteristics of the storyteller (the character in their story).
2. VALUE
How does this character matter and improve their community as revealed by their story?
3. NEEDS
what does this character need to maximize the value of their identity?
4. MISSION
What is the collective purpose/task of this dyad, group, or community? What are the steps you will take to accomplish the mission you have identified?
WE ALL NEED TO BELONG TO EACH OTHER
BELONGING: WHAT IT IS
& WHY IT MATTERS
Lack of belonging (relational disconnection) is the underlying cultural illness and increasing in the experience of belonging is the solution. Belonging is the shared experience of having confidence in one’s identity, understanding of their value and receiving what they need to thrive within a shared mission (IVNM).
CONNECTSH is here to increase belonging through storytelling. Belonging is both being part of something and having ownership of that something–usually community. The end goal of our storytelling effort is to discover and describe the unique interdependent connections you share with the person or group and how that interdependence might empower you and your network to participate in creative evolution (make the world better than the status quo). To do so, listen and look for four things:
"YOU ARE ENOUGH. YOU HAVE INFLUENCE. YOU ARE A GENIUS. YOU HAVE A CONTRIBUTION TO MAKE. YOU HAVE A GIFT THAT OTHERS NEED. YOUR ACTIONS DEFINE YOUR IMPACT. YOU ARE THE CHANGE. YOU MATTER."
photo credit to heidi timmons photography
STORYTELLING: THE HEART
OF BELONGING
“Behavior comes from a desire for belonging and significance. Misbehavior comes from a misunderstanding of how to get belonging and significance.” -Alfred Adler
Belonging is a fundamental need for humans. From conception to death, we seek out strong, satisfying relational connection and measure our contentment by their quality. How and what we learn, our accomplishments, beliefs and hopes–our capacity to grow through life’s challenges instead of being limited by them, is a capacity derived from belonging.
Belonging consists of knowing who you are, what our purpose is, and what we need from our community. ConnectSH is about getting people connected and educated. Educated with science, perspective and practical tools for connecting well.
photo credit to heidi timmons photography
photo credit to heidi timmons photography
what's in a story? How to start telling your own
You wouldn’t know it, but every story has the same elements. You may not be able to name them when asked, but you know them. If you have a story to tell (and you do), or if you’ve ever listened to a story, or read a book, or watched a movie, you already know the components of story-telling. There’s a beginning character, a community, a crucible, a guide, and a changed character. Stories are told every day.
The problem is, with our fast-paced world with pressing deadlines, we fail to stop and take time for each other’s stories. ConnectSH wants to help reclaim the art of story-telling and get to the heart of our community, increase belonging, and make our world a better place.
With this storytelling guide, you can discover the art of storytelling and the difference it makes in the world and you can start with the people you are already connected to. Start at the dinner table with your family. At the next zoom meeting with friends.
by digirevival